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TEN YEARS OF NATIONAL TEACHING FELLOWSHIPS: FOUR STORIES FROM EDUCATIONA teaching journeyDavid Watson, Principal, Green Templeton College, OxfordI have been asked to reflect on my experience as ateacher in higher education, and why the NationalTeaching Fellowship is important to me. For a littlewhile I may keep my status as a pub quiz question:who is the only former Vice-Chancellor to be aNational Teaching Fellow? When I lose thatdistinction I may last a little longer through thecorollary: who is the only former Chair of theAdvisory (Selection) Committee to become aFellow? From this I hope it comes across that I amvery proud of my Fellowship and what it represents.In 2006 I was privileged to be invited to present thenewly inaugurated Teaching Awards at the Universityof Oxford. I concluded my introductory speech asfollows:“After many years in the business I remainconvinced that being an effective teacher ishigh up the list of intangible benefits thatattract bright women and men intoacademic careers. Events like this evening’smean that for many it is still the feature thatgives them most satisfaction. Some people inand around higher education would quarrelwith this view. They believe, for example, that(in the words of Lord May, President of theRoyal Society) success in the ResearchAssessment Exercise is “the only game intown,” or that commercial exploitation ofuniversity-based knowledge is the path topersonal as well as institutional enrichment. Ithink that they are wrong.”In 2010 I attended this ceremony again, as a Head ofHouse. My career has almost come full circle: my firstmajor job in UK HE was as a course leader in aninterdisciplinary field, as was my role when I wasawarded my Fellowship. In addition, and during thecourse of this career, I have played other relevantroles: as a senior manager, as the head of twoinstitutions (one large, and one very small), and as acontributor to a number of national and internationalagencies and initiatives (Watson, 2007a, 2007b).My disciplinary background is as an historian, and Ihave been an active teacher and researcher in thehistory of ideas. I am proud of my published work inthis area, including my books on the American21